Exploring Different Gender Roles In Dhowli By Mahasweta Devi

McKensie Holliman
English 222
12 November 2014
Section 1
Exploring Different Gender Roles Throughout all of the stories we have read so far, I feel the authors have all portrayed some type of gender inequality in the characters or a various type of gender role. Do readers even notice these things? There is three stories that stood out the most when identifying the different gender roles: gender inequality, gender vs. social class, and gender and patriarchy. The short story chosen was, “Dhowli” by Mahasweta Devi. This tells the story of a woman’s battle with her social class and a consequence she will suffer because she is a woman and an “untouchable”. Marilyn L. Barton states in the Britannica Encyclopedia, “Untouchable, also called Dalit,
She is also a widow, which in the story the author does not fail to belittle her because of this. “A widow was not supposed to see her face in the mirror any more, nor wear the shellac bangles, the vermillion between her brows, the nickel anklets.” (Devi 235) She also had to escape to not be her brother in law’s mistress. Dhowli’s mother states, “Did they want to keep you? Didn’t you insist on coming with me?” Then Dhowli responds, “Because his elder brother would have taken my vitue there.” (Devi 233) Just because Dhowli is a widow and she does not have a husband by her side, the author basically says she is not worth anything and without a man she is and has nothing. She falls in love with a man, Mirsa Boy, who is in the Brahmin Caste. Dhowli knows she is an untouchable and she has no chance with the Brahmin. Mirsa Boy continues to pursue her, Dhowli willingly gives herself to this man and then she ends up pregnant, he leaves her stranded and she is shunned from the community. This shows how the author illustrates gender inequality, because Dhowli is left taking care of the baby alone and the man, who took part as well, has no repercussions. Does the author believe men should have no
This poem is an example of gender and racial discrimination but this author wants the reader to know who has the upper hand, and that is the woman. Maya Angelou, the author, has been through a lot of gender discrimination because she is a woman, and racial discrimination, because she is an African American. In this poem she states, “Just like moons and like suns, with the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll Rise.” (Angelou) She is saying that the moon and sun always rises no matter what happens so that is what she is going to do too. Angelou also states, “Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise, that I dance like I’ve got diamonds at the meeting of my thighs?” In Maya’s poem she states, “Does my sassiness upset you? Do you want to see me broken? Does my sexiness offend you?” By saying these statements Maya is taking it to a personal level and showing that she is a woman and you should never downgrade her or any woman. She is speaking to men when says, “Do you want to see me broken?” This is an example of her defending the gender discrimination that she has been going through and she is not standing for gender inequality any longer. She is expressing the sexuality of being a woman and saying that she is proud of it and does that make you upset or come as a surprise to a man. Maya Angelou, the author,